Bed for billiard tables



Sept. 7, 1937.

C. B. NORRIS BED FOR BILLIARD TABLES Filed May 27, 1935 Patented Sept. 7, 1937 UNITED STATES 1 orrics BED FOR BILLIARD TABLES Delaware Application May 27, 1935, Serial No. 23,585

11 Claims.

5 permit the wide distribution of billiard tables which could be had if the costs were lower, there has not heretofore been available any satisfactory substitute for slate from a playing standpoint.

In the standard billiard table the bed is composed of three slate slabs placed edge to edge.

30 a simple and novel fabricated slab which shall These slabs are not permanently assembled in the table at the factory, but are shipped as separate pieces and are assembled in the table at the point of use of the latter. Highly skilled labor is required for setting up a table and it takes several days to do the job. Each slab of slate is fitted in a wood frame which in time warps, necessitating the removal of the slabs, from time to time, and truing up of their frames. The bed in the standard billiard table may therefore be regarded as simply an insert in a structure complete in itself even to the cushions.

The present invention has for its object to produce a material which possesses the desirable qualities of slate when used as a bed fora billiard table, while being free from the principal objections to the latter.

jCo'nsidered in one aspect, the present invention may be said to have for its object to produce possess those qualities of slate comprising strength, stifiness and wearing qualities, the capacity to hold overlying cloth against creeping, the capacity to allow billiard balls to roll freely 35 thereon, and which shall not be objectionably affected by changes in the moisture content of the surrounding atmosphere.

Considered in a further aspect, the present invention may be said to have for its object to pro- 40 duce a simple and novel fabricated slab which shall possess the advantage over s1ate in that it may be produced in large sizes so that a billiard table bed may be fashioned from a single slab and in that the bed may be built into the table 45 at the factory and the sale and delivery of the 50 silient material of such a character that the core remains flat when facings are glued thereto, and glue steel facing sheets to both broad faces of the same to give strength and stiffness; the steel being then overlaid with a thin layer of a ma- 55 terial that provides the proper foundation for the cloth and is but little affected by moisture variations in the surrounding air. The steel sheets seal the core except at the edge faces which may be painted or otherwise coated t complete the sealing. Consequently the core is not affected by variations in the humidity of the air and remains fiat. As long as the main body of the slab remains flat, the facing layers, which are glued thereto, must also remain flat because of their relative thinness, even though, if they were free, they might warp more or less under the influence of moisture changes in the surrounding air. This slab may not only be built directly into the table, but the cushions maybe mounted thereon and be carried thereby, so that the bed and the cushions may constitute a single unit. By making the slab symmetrical it is better balanced and, also, either face may be used as the playing surface.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to y the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan View of 'a slab embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing a slab adapted for a pocket billiard table, a portion of one of the facing layers being broken away; Fig. 3 is an edge view of the slab on a much larger scale; and Fig, 4 is an exploded edge view of a fragment of the slab, showing the three sections which are preformed and then glued together.

In the arrangement illustrated in the drawing, I is a core panelabout an inch thick. This panel is illustrated as being formed of four plies glued together. The core is faced on both sides with sheet metal, 2, preferably black steel, glued thereto. Overlying and glued to the steel are comparatively thin layers, 3, say about one eighth of an inch thick, over either of which the billiard table cloth is adapted to be stretched. The core panel may thus be about eight times as thick as one of the facing layers which, in turn, is more than three times as thick as the sheet metal if the latter be of twenty gauge. The dimensions given are, of course, simply illustrative of what may be employed in constructing a slab about four feet wide and eight feet long, such as required for a one-piece billiard table bed. It will usually be advantageous to make the slab symmetrical to give it balance. This has the further advantage that either face of the slab may be turned up and provide the playing surface.

Each constituent part of the slab must perform a definite function or functions. The thick core panel serves mainly as a spacer for the metal sheets and as a resilient backing therefor. The metal sheets give strength to the structure and seal the faces of the core panel against entrance or escape of moisture. The facing layers must not be brittle and must not dent easily, and they are required to hold the overlying cloth against creeping and to make it possible for balls to roll easily. The material of the facing layers should therefore be tough and the mechanical hysteresis in the same and the rolling coeflicient of friction thereof should be low. Another way of saying that the facing layers will not dent easily if the mechanical hysteresis thereof be low, is that denting will be prevented if the material have the capacity very rapidly to resume its original shape after distortion by reason of a blow struck against the same. Furthermore, since the facing layers are exposed to atmosphere, the material thereof should not be greatly susceptible to changes in the humidity of the air.

Good results have been obtained with so-called Masonite, which is composed largely of matted exploded wood fibers and has a specific gravity of about .56 for the core panel. Black sheet steel of twenty gauge serves well for the metal layers or strata. For the facing layers I have successfully employed a material similar to the core material except that it is mixed with some China-wood oil and synthetic resin and is compacted under heavy pressure to a density of about one. This latter material lends itself to grinding and sanding so that the faces of the slab may be ground perfectly flat.

In manufacturing the slab the facing layers are glued to the steel and then the composite panels thus produced are glued to the core. In this way the gluing together of the facing layers and the metal can be done under heavy pressure, if desired, and without the introduction of moisture. The gluing of the compound panels to the core may then be carried out by any ordinary or desired methods and at any desired pressure. The leaving of a certain amount of moisture in the core causes no harm, because the moisture is trapped between the steel plates and distributes itself uniformly throughout the core. In order to make certain that such moisture as may be introduced in the final gluing process will not result in a final product whose faces are not perfectly flat, it is advisable that the slab be aged somewhat before the final grinding of the faces thereof.

The materials and the proportions that have been recited herein are intended to be illustrative, only, although such materials and such proportions have been found to give satisfactory results. However, there are certain relations between the facing layers, the metal sheets and the core which must be maintained. In order to prevent a facing layer from denting when, for example, a ball is dropped upon the same, it must be flexible enough to yield and allow a large part of the shock to be absorbed by the backing therefor. The steel sheet forms the first layer of the backing and it, in turn, must be able to yield and transmit to the core a definite part of the load. If the steel be too stiff, the facing layer is not properly cushioned. If the core be too unyielding, the same is true. On the other hand, if the core he too yielding, the steel may be pushed down into the same too far and be caused to be permanently deformed. That the facing layers must possess a certain amount of flexibility can be shown by the fact that the mere thickening of a facing layer may make it unable to withstand blows which would not mar a thinner facing layer on the same slab. For instance, when the facing layers in the specific example that I have given were made a quarter of an inch thick, instead of an eighth of an inch, they became dented under blows that had no injurious effect on the thinner layers.

After the slab has been completed, only ordinary care need be observed in handling it in transporting and assembling it in a table structure, since it is stiif and rugged and has a surface hardness such that it cannot easily be marred. With the ordinary protection given to a billiard table in use, the slab should last indefinitely without losing its flatness. Also, because the cushions may be mounted on the slab instead of on some part of the table which supports the slab, the relations between the cushions and the slab or bed will not change as time passes.

The same slab may be used as a bed for a pocket-billiard table, as Well as for ordinary billiard tables, it being simply necessary to make excisions where the pockets are to be located. In order to facilitate the making of these excisions, the sheet metal may be cut away at the corners and at the middle of the long edges, as indicated at 4 in Fig. 2, before the steel and the facing material are glued together. Then, after the gluing of the slab has been completed, the excisions for the pocket openings may be made without the necessity of cutting through metal.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, with a slight modification, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A bed for a billiard table in the form of a single slab comprising parallel metal sheets, a thick core panel of matted fibrous material interposed between and adhered to said metal sheets, and facing layers covering and adhered to said metal sheets; said facing layers being composed of a matted fibrous material which provides a high static coefiicient of friction between the same and a cloth covering drawn over the same and which is highly resilient.

2. A bed for a billiard table in the form of a single slab comprising a thick, stiff panel having outer layers in the form of sheets of resilient metal and resilient material adhered to and backing the latter, and a facing layer covering and adhered to one metal sheet; said facing layer being composed of a matted fibrous material that is tough, will prevent billiard table cloth drawn over the same from creeping, and will cause rolling billiard balls to roll easily over the same.

3. A bed for a billiard table in the form of a single slab, comprising a thick panel of matted wood fibers, steel sheets glued to the faces of the same, and thin facing layers composed of a dense, compacted material that is mainly fibrous and is affected only slightly by changes in the humidity of the surrounding atmosphere overlying and glued to said steel sheets.

4. A bed for a billiard table in the form of a single slab, comprising a thick panel of matted wood fibers, steel sheets glued to the faces of the same, and thin facing layers composed mainly of a compacted mass of matted wood fibers and synthetic resin overlying and glued to said steel sheets. 1

5. A bed for a billiard table in the form of a single slab, comprising a thick panel of fibrous material, steel sheets glued to the faces of the panel, and then hard facing layers of a material that consists mainly of wood fibers and artificial resin and is much denser than the material of the thick panel overlying and glued to said steel sheets.

6. A bed for a'billiard table in the form of a r single slab, comprising a thick core panel containing several layers glued together and each formed of matted exploded wood fibers, steel sheets glued to said core panel; and thin facing layers formed of matted exploded wood fiber, more compacted than in the core panel, mixed with a substance impervious to moisture overlying and glued to said steel sheets.

7. A bed for a billiard table in the form of a single slab, comprising a thick core panel containing several layers glued together and each formed of matted exploded Wood fibers, steel sheets glued to said core panel; and thin facing layers formed of matted exploded wood fiber, more compacted than in the core panel, mixed with a substance impervious tomoisture overlying and glued to said steel sheets with a tough elastic adhesive.

8. A bed for a billiard table in the form of a single thick panel of matted fibers, steel sheets covering and glued to the broad faces of said proof material.

panel, and facing layers composed mainly of matted fibers and material impervious to moisture overlying and glued to said steel sheets, said panel having a thickness which is many times as great as that of one of the facing panels.

9. A bed for a billiard table in the form of a single thick panel of matted fibers, steel sheets covering and glued to the broad faces of said panel, and facing layers composed mainly of matted fibers and material impervious to: moisture overlying and glued to said steel sheets,

said panel having a thickness about eight times as great as that of one of the facing layers.

10. A bed for a billiard table in the form of a single thick panel of matted fibers, steel sheets covering and glued to the broad faces of said panel, and facing layers. composed mainly of matted fibers and material impervious to moisture overlying and glued to said steel sheets, said panel having a thickness which is many times as great as that of one of the facing layers and each facing layer having a thickness much greater than that of one of the metal sheets.

11. A bed for a billiard table in the form of a single slab, comprising a thick resilient panel of matted fibrous material, thin resilient metal sheets covering and glued to the broad faces of said panel, and a facing layer much thinner than said panel covering and glued to one of said metal sheets and adapted to support a billiard table cloth, said facing layer being composed of a compacted mass of fibers and water- CHARLES E. NORRIS. 

